Okay, I’m beginning to come around on the whole religion thing. Not by some great revelation, but because there’s someone or something out there in the universe that just loves to make crappy romantic comedies and see me die a little each time I see one.

As was the case with “27 Dresses“, the Hollywood money machine has once again found a tapped plot idea to dangle attractive actors in front of audiences and mix in with trite humor and saccharine sensibility.

This time around, the film is called “Made of Honor” (because the main character is a maid of honor and he has honor – get it? Fantastic!) and stars Patrick “Loverboy” Dempsey and Michelle “she never calls me” Monaghan. He’s an insecure, womanizing cad who hides behind his dating rules so he never gets emotionally involved and she’s an over-feeling, smart, beautiful woman who’s trapped herself in the friend zone with him. Of course, she takes a trip to Scotland and comes back with a fiancé. Only then does the selfish, egotistical (and rich wouldn’t you know it) “hero” of our story realize that “Oh my God, I love Hannah”. I think you see where this is going.

I can’t say I expected much because I had my guard up coming into the screening. I had already endured the aforementioned “27 Dresses” and saw this as the fraternal twin. I do enjoy the actors in this film more (though I always love Judy Greer and wish she was in this one too) so at least I wasn’t constantly annoyed at the main characters for their ability, or lack thereof.

Dempsey and Monaghan do fine at portraying their characters and I liked the supporting cast; most notably Sydney Pollack as the perpetually marrying/divorcing father of Dempsey, Kadeem “A Different World” Hardison as the best friend and Busy Philipps playing a stuck-up brat (why does she always get these roles? )

I was a little surprised at how casually they treat the “Scottish hunk” (Kevin McKidd) that sweeps Monaghan off of her feet, prompting the dreaded wedding that Dempsey must somehow wreck. It was like they were afraid to have too much of him just in case you wouldn’t be able to be rooting for Dempsey to win out in the end (oops, did I spoil the ending?). I suppose the rumor that has him cast as Thor in the upcoming Marvel comics movie doesn’t help Dempsey’s case. Who would you pick, McDreamy or a Norse God? Don’t answer that … I can’t say I honestly care.

Perhaps the worst part of it all is that I tend to like the comedy that comes from the film’s screenwriters, Harry Elfont & Deborah Kaplan. They did the 90′s high school flick, “Can’t Hardly Wait” and the surprisingly funny “Josie and the Pussycats”.

However, here their jokes fall like dead pigeons from the top of a building and perhaps the best way to describe the script is that it’s like a romantic sit-com, printed on Hallmark cards. If I hadn’t been suffering from eating enough chocolate to remind me that I should get a diabetes test, this film alone could have sent me scrambling for the nearest syringe of insulin.

As it is, I think you can tell that I wasn’t too pleased with this film and should probably have stayed at home and watched more “Airwolf” re-runs. If you liked “27 Dresses” (and I know some people did) or you like sappy, safe and predictable romantic comedies, then this film is for you. However, I prefer a bit more edge to these things and will begrudgingly elevate “Made of Honor” to a 2 out of 5.

It was flirting with a lower rating but it’s just so hard for me to be mad at Michelle Monaghan. (For an example of why I don’t hate everything about Christmas, see this picture.)

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Friday, May 2nd, 2008 at 5:00 am

Sobering Conclusion
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